A Second Chance
by veshgrout
Summary: The Dark Lord is giving Draco a second chance to fulfill his requests. But Draco will have to find a way around these orders to not only save his family, but his innocence as well. *Starting mid-DH and completely ignoring the epilogue. This is my FIRST fanfic! Be gentle :) rated: M for later chapters
1. Prologue

"Enter." Draco pushed the old rickety door open into the formal dining room of Malfoy Manor. Draco didn't need to look up to know where the Dark Lord was seated at his family's long, dark mahogany table.

Draco's father, Lucius, shut the door behind him to leave Draco alone with the terrifying man and his equally terrifying snake, Nagini.

"Take a seat Draco, we have much to discuss." Draco looked up at the hiss in the Dark Lord's voice, and saw that bit of anger in his master's eyes whenever he talked with him directly. Draco feared this anger, but was grateful that the Dark Lord's anger towards him paled in comparison to the anger he had shown Lucius.

Draco made his way to the seat opposite the Dark Lord, eyeing the snake the entire time. Ever since he had seen that very same snake kill and devour a Hogwarts teacher, he'd had nightmares of watching Nagini tear into his own family and friends. Suffice it to say, Draco had not been sleeping well lately.

"Draco, I know it's been awhile since I've spoken to you personally, but you should know it is not because I no longer trust you."

Draco knew this speech by now. The Dark Lord was disappointed in him for allowing Snape to take over the task assigned to him, the task of killing Dumbledore.

"I understand my Lord, I disappointed you. But you must know that I am truly more disappointed in myself." Draco had practised this lie many times and knew that his face would show no sign of treachery. Just to protect that lie, Draco began closing his mind more to those around him, even his own family. Harboring his true feelings and hurt was crucial to keeping his parents and himself alive.

"I believe that Draco. And that is why I want to give you another chance."

Draco felt every breath leave his body. He couldn't kill, it didn't matter who it was. He discovered that night atop the Astronomy tower just how scared he truly was of becoming a killer. Draco kept his eyes trained on the Dark Lord, never breaking contact. He wanted the Dark Lord to peer into his mind just so he could show the façade that he had placed there, showing how exhilirated he felt for a second chance. The Dark Lord leered back at him, but didn't make any such attempt to enter Draco's mind.

So Draco spoke of his enthusiasm, "I would be honored to perform whatever task is asked of me my Lord. And this time I shall not fail you."

The blood curdling smile on the Dark Lord's face grew to something truly sinister.

"Good. While it has been made clear that I must be the one to kill Harry Potter, there still stands many other obstacles in my way. Not only the Order of the Phoenix, but many other barriers that need time to be taken down. However, I believe that taking away some of his closest allies would prove to be extremely helpful. And you, dear Draco, know these allies better than any other weapon I have at my disposal."

Draco could hear his heart beat in his ears. The Dark Lord didn't even need to speak another word, he knew who it was that he would be expected to terminate.

"While I would love to see both heads before me I will ask for only one from you, I believe that will be effective enough. But you should know Draco, this time I will not forgive your failure, if you do not succeed I **will** deliver on my threat to have your mother killed."

Draco could feel his breath catch in his throat, he had witnessed the Dark Lord's wrath in his time at Malfoy Manor, and the last thing he wanted was for his poor mother to be on the receiving end of that wrath.

"Having made that clear Draco, I leave you with a choice; kill the Weasley or kill the mudblood..."


	2. Chapter 1

It had been weeks spent in the outdoors, traveling to different unknown places and living out of a tent. Hermione was growing weak and frustrated. Since they had escaped from the ministry with the locket, morale had slipped greatly. Ron's injury from getting splinched was nearly recovered, but his attitude was getting less and less tolerable. If he wasn't complaining about the lack of food, he was complaining about Harry. Ron was starting to lose faith in Harry's quest, and would not stop voicing his concerns to Hermione. Meanwhile, Hermione was getting more and more tired of her two best friends. All they did lately was fight, and neither of them seemed to care of her opinion on the matters they were fighting about. It reminded her of their fourth year when they were bickering and would use her to let out all their issues. She hated being in the middle, but mostly she hated having to choose a side.

Hermione lit her wand to check the time on her watch, it was nearly 2AM. Ron and Harry had been quiet for the last couple of hours, meaning they were FINALLY asleep and done bickering. Hermione found that she actually liked her shifts out on watch, it was her time to herself, her time to sort through her many thoughts.

Hermione was able to do a lot of horcrux research during this alone time. She also spent much of it trying to figure out their next destination. the horcrux research, however, was proving fruitless with the literature she had available to her. She simply couldn't find any book with details pertaining to horcruxes. She could ALWAYS find information in a book, but nothing about these dark pieces of magic.

"Help! Please!" Hermione heard a distant voice screaming, a girl it seemed. She snuck her head into the tent and saw that the sneakoscope was sitting completely still. Perhaps not an enemy, but she was determined to be absolutely certain first.

Hermione made her way to the edge of where she knew her enchantments reached. The darkness was blinding, but she could still make out the shapes of the different tall and narrow trees in the distance.

She couldn't see a human shape, but she could still hear the frightened and ragged breathing that seemed to be coming from somewhere in the distance.

"Is anyone there? Help please?!" The host of the frightened voice slowly limped her way into Hermione's line of vision. She was still quite some distance away, but Hermione could see how much blood the girl was covered in. The girl was holding a hand to her head where blood seemed to be pouring from at a rapid pace. Her hair was so drenched in the deep red fluid that it was hard to tell just precisely what color her hair truly was. What disturbed Hermione most though, was the state of dress on this poor girl. Her jeans had multiple long and gruesome rips, highlighted by the blood stains soaking into them. Her top was merely just a shred of fabric reveling her equally torn bra with many more gruesome cuts all along her chest and stomach.

Hermione swallowed down a panicked scream that had been about to slip past her lips. Whoever or whatever attacked this girl was not something she wanted to deal with.

Hermione quickly ran back to the tent to retrieve Harry's invisibility cloak. She contemplated waking Harry and Ron to have them help her, but didn't think that poor girl would have enough time before she was able to get her best friends on board to help her. Plus she really couldn't risk Harry's safety, he would want to be the hero like always. His life was more important than hers at this moment.

With the cloak and her bottle of dittany in hand, Hermione rushed back to the edge of where her enchantments were and searched once more for the girl. She could no longer hear the girl's voice or heavy breathing. Squinting hard to see further in the distance, Hermione saw what appeared to be someone lying on the ground unconscious.

 _Oh no, what if I'm too late?_

Hermione shook the terrible thought out of her brain and slipped the cloak over her, covering every inch.

Raising her wand, Hermione slipped out from the safe haven of her enchantments, memorizing the ground at her feet so that she knew where to re-enter. As quietly as she could, Hermione made her way over to the shape passed out on the ground. The closer she got, the easier it was to see that it was in fact the girl who had been screaming out for help.

Once Hermione was just a foot away, she could finally see well enough to know that the girl was still breathing.

 _She must have passed out from all the blood loss._

Hermione glanced around for any sign of movement before stepping forward and covering the girl under the invisibility cloak with her.

Hermione made sure every inch of the girl was covered before bending over and inspecting her head wound. She looked firstly where the girl was holding her head, digging through her thick hair to try and find the wound. She had searched a large portion of the girl's head without seeing any sign of trauma.

 _That's funny, I could have sworn this was the side she was holding onto._

Hermione's breath caught as she realized something she hadn't even noticed; there was no longer any blood seeping from the girl as there was before. Not on her head or anywhere else for that matter.

It was a trap, someone had tricked her into aiding this girl. Perhaps the girl herself had lured Hermione.

 _They may not even realize I'm here under the invisibility cloak._

Trying to stay as calm as possible, Hermione slowly stood up, glancing around her again just to make sure she couldn't see any form of movement. She then backed up slowly and carefully, trying to not make any noise. The girl, still unconscious, was slowly starting to be revealed from under the invisibility cloak. Once only Hermione was left under the cloak she slowly turned around to make her way back to the tent.

Before she could even take a step, she felt a sudden jolt enter her being. Her body stiffened and her eyes stretched wide to take in her surroundings. She had been hit with a body-binding curse, and if her instincts were correct, she was hit in the back, right between her shoulder blades.

Her bound body tipped backwards until she fell rather roughly onto her back atop the unconscious girl, who made absolutely no sound at being crushed by another body.

The invisibility cloak still covered Hermione, but she knew whoever had cursed her must have known about the cloak, or at least guessed. She could hear footsteps from behind her getting closer. She wanted to be able to see who was coming, but her angle only allowed her to peer up into the night sky.

"I'm truly sorry to do this Granger, but I have no choice."

 _I know that voice, how do I know that voice?_

The invisibility cloak was suddenly pulled off of Hermione's form, but she still couldn't see who the voice came from.

Her attacker slowly made his way around Hermione until he was standing at her feet, his back towards her. He was wearing a full-length black robe with the hood up, revealing not a single feature about him.

"I will explain everything to you at a later time where I know we can't be overheard, but until then.."

Finally, he turned around to face Hermione, revealing his beautifully pale skin and striking blond hair.

"... I need to make sure you see nothing." And with that he cast another curse upon Hermione, sending her into a deep and dreamless sleep.


	3. Chapter 2

Hermione slowly felt the consciousness return to her body. Her head hurt, bad! Why did her head hurt so badly? She suddenly remembered it all... hitting her head... the girl... the body-binding curse... Malfoy...

It was Malfoy that cursed her and put her in a deep sleep.

Hermione slowly opened her eyes to get a better look at her surroundings. She was lying down in a bed. She went to sit up and move her feet to the floor, but was stopped by something holding her by the wrists. Magical binding was keeping her tied to the bed. Damn you Malfoy!

The door to the bedroom Hermione was in opened, revealing her devious captor. Malfoy pulled a chair with him into the room to sit in at the foot of the bed.

Hermione was about to curse him out, but soon realized she could not speak. Her voice was lost to her.

"Yeah, sorry about that, but I need you to hear a few things before I let you voice your anger." Hermione glared at Malfoy, hoping to wordlessly and wandlessly curse him.

"Firstly, I wish things didn't have to be this way but I truly had no choice. So I am sorry, but you should know that you will not be able to leave this house. It is warded and well hidden. If you should somehow succeed in escaping, I will be alerted and be able to stop you. No, I do not plan to keep you here forever... but I am hoping that your time here will not be... difficult."

Malfoy then stood from his chair and pulled out his wand.

"Granger, I'm go to lift your silencing charm so you can ask questions, however, you will remain bound until I can be sure you will not attack me. I will tell you whatever you want to know, but nothing more. You can decide yourself how much you want revealed to you." Malfoy lifted his wand and silently granted Hermione her ability to speak.

"Where is my wand?" Hermione asked angrily.

"I had to leave it back with your friends." Hermione narrowed her eyes at this. "Let's just say, it's best for the time being, that your wand remain in their possession." Malfoy said with some apology in his voice.

Hermione questioned his reasoning for leaving her wand behind.

"Why?"

Malfoy sighed, he expected Hermione would want to know everything.

"Look Granger, I am okay with telling you whatever you want to know, but I also think it wise that you understand just how dangerous it is for you to know these things. If you were to be captured by either side, absolutely no one can know what I am about to tell you. Not your friends, not a soul from the Order, not even your pet cat! It is truly THAT dangerous."

Hermione reeled in her anger, the fear on Malfoy's face causing her a second of stress. She sighed and let her frown disappear, hoping that a look of compassion could be more effective.

"Malfoy, I will swear not to reveal anything... you have my word."

Malfoy snickered at that and shook his head. Clearly Hermione's acting abilities needed some work.

"You can lie to me all you want Granger, but I'm only warning you to save us."

Malfoy sunk back into the chair and continued.

"The Dark Lord gave me another assignment. A second chance of sorts, to make up for my inability to kill Dumbledore..."

Hermione held her breath, not wanting Malfoy to second guess his trust in her.

"... my mission was to eliminate someone close to Potter, to help the Dark Lord not only take out one of your number but to also dampen Potter's morale. I was even given a choice of which ally I could eliminate. It was between Weasley and you."

Hermione scowled in frustration still not comprehending why she was kidnapped of all things.

"By eliminate I assume you mean kill... Which still doesn't tell me why I'm here. You were asked to kill me not abduct me."

Malfoy sighed and shut his eyes briefly.

"That is correct... but I learned from my first task that I cannot kill. Even if I truly wanted to, I do not have it in me. Perhaps that makes me a coward or even weak? I don't know... but I refuse to kill. It's one line I simply cannot cross."

Malfoy had a look on his face as though he wanted to cry. He held it in though and focused his eyes once again at Hermione.

"Then why didn't you just have someone kill me? It worked for you the first time when Snape killed Dumbledore." Hermione sneered.

Malfoy only shook his head in defeat.

"The Dark Lord thought that my inability to kill Dumbledore showed weakness. I have been mocked, ridiculed and punished for my failure that night. If I were unable to come through with this task, The Dark Lord would punish me in the worst way he possibly could."

Hermione feared his answer, but asked anyway.

"What way is that?"

A tear finally slid down Malfoy's cheek.

"He would kill my mother." Malfoy rubbed his eyes to hide his brief moment of weakness.

Hermione could feel her guards lowering, her compassion coming to the surface. She felt bad for Malfoy, funnily enough. But she hid all these emotions, and instead kept her stoic expression in place. She would not give to Malfoy's feeble attempts, no matter his excuse.

"I do not know what you expect me to feel Malfoy, but I assure you I will never feel anything but contempt when it comes to you. You are in this predicament because you chose to be a Death Eater! You decided for yourself that..."

Hermione's rant was cut off by Malfoy's humorless snicker.

"You honestly think I chose to be a Death Eater? You think I chose a life where my family is always in peril? I know you're smarter than this Granger. You were there that night at the Ministry. You saw my father fail in his task to retrieve that damn prophecy! Ever since then the Dark Lord has had it out for my father! And what better way to get back at him then to force his only son to do a job that was meant to kill him?! I may have been naïve in the past, but I know when I'm being used. Sure, the Dark Lord was disappointed that I didn't kill Dumbledore, but he was even more disappointed when Dumbledore didn't kill me!"

The angry tears were now flowing down Malfoy's face. It reminded Hermione a bit of how Harry had described that night atop the Astronomy tower. The fear he was feeling was palpable, and Hermione didn't know how to react. Her head was screaming that she shouldn't trust him, but her heart was telling her that Malfoy was just another victim, like so many others.

"I'm sorry Malfoy. Look..." Hermione wasn't sure how to continue. She had so many more questions, but was afraid of angering Malfoy more than she had. "Okay, so by my understanding, Volde-"

"DON'T!"

Hermione gasped out her words, surprised by Malory's outburst.

"You can't say that name..."

"Fear of a name..."

"That's not why. There is a taboo on the name."

Hermione furrowed her brow at this, "You mean..."

"Yes... That name will send out an alert to Death Eaters, snatchers, anyone in the vicinity. It's his way of catching Order members, as well as Potter."

Hermione found herself surprised. Turns out Ron was right about the name being cursed.

"Okay then... You-know-who needs to believe that I am dead?"

"Correct."

Hermione furrowed her brow at this.

"Well won't he question you when there's no body to prove my death?"

Malfoy's pale face became even more pale at her question, leaving Hermione to fear the worst.

"What did you do?" Hermione asked fearfully.

"Nothing truly evil, just... you're right I had to make sure your friends found a body, not only so they believed you to be dead, but to also have a reason to not have to present a body to the Dark Lord. So instead of your body I left a lookalike."

Hermione blanched.

"I thought you said you couldn't kill!"

"I didn't! It was an already dead body I was instructed to dispose of by my ever-so-charming Aunt Bellatrix. Instead I worked through a couple of appearance spells to get it to look as much like you as possible. I may have had to add a few rather grotesque gashes to it to hide some of the features that didn't quite fit you, but as far as anyone who has ever known you can tell, it is you."

Hermione was stunned silent, her thoughts all blurring together. Her friends believed her to be dead. Voldemort ordered her death. Malfoy kidnapped her... to save her. Her thoughts were mostly hung up with her friends though.

"But... Harry... Ron... what will they do without me?"

"Look Granger, as I said this is not ideal. But if I hadn't come through on this mission the Dark Lord would have killed me, then put someone else in my place. When he wants something done, it gets done."

"But you said yourself that you could have taken me or Ron. Why wouldn't you take Ron instead? You hate me!"

"I hate Weasel more."

"But I am literally everything you were raised to hate!"

"I'm not arguing your point Granger! But when you're only given two options, the lesser of two evils tends to be the side to lean towards."

Hermione wanted to argue more but didn't have anything else to add. She knew he had a point, if Ron or herself were forced to cooperate with Malfoy, Hermione would have a much easier go at it than Ron. He sometimes let his emotions get the better of the situation.

Hermione accepted this fate and went to the next question on her mind.

"Where are we?"

"I don't want to say an exact location to prevent you from letting it slip, but what you need to know is that we are in a muggle house that I obtained on my own. Other than you, no other wizard or witch knows of this location or that it even exists. My own parents don't even know about it and I'd like to keep it that way."

Hermione found it interesting that Malfoy would choose a muggle home of all places.

"You, in a muggle home?" Hermione quirked her eyebrow and questioned.

"Well I don't live here. I really just needed somewhere to hide, and a muggle home is the last place anyone would think to look for me."

Hermione accepted his answer, realizing how true it was.

Malfoy finally stood up from his chair and gave a wave of his wand, unbinding Hermione from her shackles.

"Look Granger, I know you have no reason to trust me, and I wouldn't be surprised if you never do. But please believe that I am only doing what I can to save my family... and myself. Once Potter takes down the Dark Lord I will personally see to it that you get the most wonderful reunion with all of your friends that you have ever imagined. But for now, everyone needs to believe that you are dead."

Hermione laid silent staring at her unbound hands in her lap, trying to come up with a response.

"I know you owe me nothing... and I know you will probably always hate me... but I truly cannot think of any other way to go about this and keep everyone alive, and yes I have thought of many other scenarios."

Hermione lifted her eyes to look into Malfoy's; pained, silver and bloodshot, staring back at her. Hermione stared back for such a long time, realizing how much power she had in this moment. She may have been his captor, but he was very clearly giving her a choice.

"What if I don't agree to playing dead?" Malfoy's eyes shut tight at this, fearing that this was her answer.

"Granger... if you choose not to stay... I won't stop you. But I would offer whatever you want to reconsider," Malfoy responded painfully.

Hermione let this information sink in a bit... what could she get from him? She assumed money would be his first offer... she stopped this heinous thought before it got out of control. How could she ask for anytyhing from him? She wasn't a Slytherin, she didn't take advantage of others in their time of weakness.

Hermione made up her mind and stood from the bed to face Malfoy, her captor, with her chin held high.

"Alright Malfoy. I'll stay in hiding." Hermione concluded and closed the gap between them with her hand held out.

Malfoy eyed the gesture curiously before firmly taking her hand and shaking it, silently making the agreement with his longtime enemy.

A/N: A few things... first thank you to all of you who have favorited, followed and gave such nice reviews! You people are why I have the fuel to continue.

Second... this chapter was a bit tough for me, it was literally rewritten three times. Mostly I wasn't sure how I wanted Draco to come across and didn't know how Hermione should react. The posted chapter is what I ended up with. I want honest thoughts on this. What works for you? What doesn't? Don't worry about hurting my feelings. However, remember that constructive criticism will be better received :)

Thirdly... I've noticed a little bit of traffic on my author profile, but as some of you have noticed there's nothing there... I'll get to it! But I should warn you my life is generally rather dull.

Thanks peeps,

veshgrout


	4. Chapter 3

Malfoy shook Hermione's hand firmly and squeezed appreciatively. After Malfoy's small panicked breakdown, Hermione expected his hands to be warm and sweaty, but in fact they were quite cold. The cold reminded her of death and she gave an involuntary shiver.

Malfoy pulled his hand away abruptly and shamefully glanced down to the floor.

"I need to return to the manor now." Malfoy turned on his heel and headed for the door.

"Wait! There's still some questions I need answered." Malfoy halted at the door and turned back towards her with a smirk on his face.

"Of course you do Granger. However, I've been away for quite some time now and the last thing we need is for my absence to be noticed." Hermione's expression fell and she solemnly nodded understanding his predicament. "I will return as soon as I can. While I'm away please make yourself comfortable and help yourself to anything you see. While I trust you not to leave I will be leaving my wards up. If I am alerted that you have left I will assume you were taken against your will. I have been very careful though, and I see no reason why someone should expect you to be here. At the same time, if there is any sort of emergency, leaving the confines of the house will be quickest way to alert me."

Hermione nodded in understanding.

"I would assume that asking for a wand would be too my to ask?" She knew the chances were slim. Magic left traces.

"You assume correctly. The world believes you dead, if even one person finds any trace of you or your magic it could be extremely dangerous. I know it's a bit of an excessive precaution, but I refuse to take any chances."

"No that makes sense, you're right." Malfoy turned back to the door and paused with his hand on the knob.

"Stay safe Granger." Malfoy exited into the first lights of early morning, quietly closing the door behind him. The silence that remained surrounded Hermione and left her with a sense of dread.

 _What have I agreed to?_

Hermione took the moment to take in her surroundings. She was standing in the doorway of the bedroom she was previously in, peering out into a larger sitting area connected to a small kitchenette. The few furniture pieces in the sitting room faced towards a barely lit fireplace. The fireplace was too small to flue, confirming that this was in fact a muggle house.

Above the fire there sat a mantelpiece completely covered in books. There had to be about 20 to 25 for her to choose from.

 _I wonder if he put those there specifically for me?_

Hermione snorted at her thought. Why would Malfoy do something for her benefit?

The sitting area only consisted of a worn sofa, that reminded Hermione of something that would be at the Burrow. The blue and yellow plaid pattern had a slight wear to it, leaving Hermione to believe that Malfoy probably didn't purchase this sofa recently... if at all.

To her right, Hermione took in the intimate dining table that was only large enough to barely hold two people. The two chairs at the table were mismatched, and neither seemed to fit the style of the light pine wood table. The small kitchen housed a yellow gas stove with a deep sink positioned to the right. Surrounding both items were scratched counters that looked to be an ugly tan color.

 _There seems to be no refrigerator..._

The lack of refrigerator seemed to be directly related to the lack of electricity. The ceiling light in the kitchenette was dark and didn't even appear to have a lightbulb in place. All source of light seemed to be from candles or the fireplace. While this was usually the method used in the magical community, it didn't make sense in a muggle home. Hermione wondered if maybe Malfoy didn't understand how electricity worked? Or perhaps he was just afraid of it.

 _Silly purebloods so afraid of a simple muggle invention._

Peering to her left, Hermione saw another door situated right next to her bedroom door. Pushing it open revealed the smallest bathroom Hermione had ever seen. A pedestal sink, bathtub and toilet were all pushed into a tight space leaving standing room for only one person.

Hermione shook her head to try and clear the images from her eyes. This house was so untouched by magic, so bare of any frivolous distractions. Overall this house was so... un-Malfoy!

A small giggle escaped Hermione's lips at the ridiculous state of her situation. Not only did she agree to stay hidden for Malory's sake, but she agreed to hide in the last place she'd ever expect Draco Malfoy to own.

 _No wonder he chose this place. No Death Eater in the world would be caught dead in a place like this._

Hermione wandered closer to the mantle where she could get a closer look at Malfoy's small library. Many titles she recognized, having read them before; Hogwarts, A History... Advanced Potion Making... Charms Year 7...

Others she noticed seemed to deal more with the Dark Arts, a few were books she herself had perused to try and learn more about horcruxes.

 _I wonder if Malfoy would have any knowledge or resources on the subject?_

Hermione made a mental note to bring something up the next time Malfoy visited. If she was to stay in hiding, she should at least use her time to assist Harry.

 _I wonder if Malfoy would deliver any information I find to Harry and Ron? Wait... What?!_

Hermione was getting ahead of herself. Malfoy may have said he would give her whatever she wanted, but she doubted that would extend to her friends that Malfoy loathed even more than her.

 _But... perhaps with time...?_

Yes, once Malfoy was more comfortable with her company she would broach the subject. In the meantime she could continue her research. It didn't pay to dwell on whether or not Malfoy would deliver information since she had yet to find anything worth Harry's time. She would start with what was available to her.

Glancing through the books provided, there were only three that she hadn't read yet.

 _Best to start somewhere..._

Hermione went to grab Mastering the Dark Arts, pulling it from its perch seemed to dislodge a few of the books surrounding it, causing a rippling effect where many of them plummeted to the floor disturbing the eerie quiet.

Hermione groaned and bent to to pick up the scattered tomes. Upon picking up a potions book, she noticed a worn picture beneath it. Looking back at her was a young a beautiful blonde with the most heartwarming smile Hermione had ever laid eyes on. In the blonde's arms was a small child, perhaps only one-year-old. The child was laughing and smiling, clearly happy to be in the woman's arms. His white-blond hair seemed somewhat long for a child that age, but the eyes were what Hermione couldn't tear her gaze from. The child's eyes were a beautiful grey, almost silver, with just a hint of sky blue twinkling with his laughter.

 _Malfoy..._

Before Hermione's eyes was Draco Malfoy as a small child, in the arms of his beautiful mother. Hermione had never seen such a captivating duo. The young Narcissa Malfoy was so enthralled wit her son, her love for him was pouring from the very picture.

 _I wouldn't want to lose her either..._

Hermione opened the potions book still on the floor and placed the beautiful picture within its pages.

She replaced the potions book on the mantle along with its other fallen counterparts. After replacing the books she didn't intend to read, Hermione gave one last glance to the potions book and smiled.

"Who knew that Malfoy had a heart?"

Hermione grabbed a lantern and sat down on the sofa with her new book, immersing herself in more research.

 _Perhaps my time here won't be so bad..._

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 **A/N: What's the saying? There's always a calm before the storm... maybe not a full fledged storm in the case of this story, but enough of one.**


	5. Chapter 4

6 days... 6 bloody days!

Hermione sat in solitude for six long days with only the provided books to entertain her. Malfoy's small library only distracted Hermione with three days worth of research, not one book providing her with the answers she needed. On the fourth day Hermione decided to re-read _Hogwarts: A History_. Day five proved rather trying with nothing of interest left for her to read or entertain herself with. Hermione wasn't usually the athletic type, but being pent up like this made her feel lazy and in need of a good run.

Early in the morning on day six Hermione decided to soothe her nerves with a long bath in the overly small bathroom. This proved to cause her even more stress. The tub was incredibly uncomfortable and the water could not heat to a level past slightly lukewarm. Long relaxing baths wouldn't be an option for Hermione during her time in solitude, which would only add to her ever growing stress.

Hermione looked out the dingy window above the kitchen sink to see the slowly setting sun. She soon discovered after searching through her small living space that all the windows appeared to be magically concealed, preventing anyone from seeing into the house. Hermione remembered Moody explaining the type of magic used to achieve this effect. Grimmauld Place had the very same magic applied, as well as many other magical buildings hiding in plain sight amoungst muggles.

It seemed like an eternity ago that Moody led them all through the throngs of Death Eaters to get Harry safely to the Burrow. Now he was gone, no longer making everyone feel uncomfortble with harsh words and inhuman abilities with his eye. The same eye that Harry found guarding Umbridge's office at the Ministry.

 _How crude..._

Hermione's thoughts stayed with Moody until the sun made its descent low enough where she could no longer see it. Without a clock, Hermione was left to guess the time of the day. With winter and colder weather fastly approaching, nighttime was coming earlier. Hermione guessed that it was perhaps a little after five.

 _Not that it matters..._

With nothing to currently fill her time, she felt hopeless. A depression brought on either from the weather change or the complete void of socialization. She would even take Harry and Ron's bickering at a time like this.

The lock on the front door gave a sharp snap, making Hermione jump.

 _Oh no, I've been found..._

The door was slowly pushed open to reveal a disheveled and extremely tired Malfoy, holding a duffle bag in the hand not on the doorknob.

"Granger." Malfoy gave in a terse greeting, turning away to close the door and lock it once again.

Hermione let out a sigh of relief that it was only her captor, not a Death Eater... well, a _different_ Death Eater.

Hermione's relief was quickly exchanged for anger when she remembered how upset she was with Malfoy for putting her in this dismal situation in the first place. She stomped her way across the kitchenette to close the distance between Malfoy and herself. Upon hearing her angry stomps, Malfoy turned just in time to catch a hand right before it connected with his left cheek. The look he gave her to combat her anger was that of equal hatred.

"Did you honestly think that I would ever let you get away with hitting me after that incident in third year?"

Hermione couldn't answer, all she could comprehend was her hatred for Malfoy and how much she wanted to hurt him in that moment.

"You left me here for six days on my own! With nothing to do! Nowhere to go! And still with so many questions that I need answered!" Hermione punctuated the end of her rant by bringing her other hand up the slap Malfoy on the other cheek. He proved to be quicker than she realized however, dropping the bag he was holding to stop her assault only inches from his face.

He kept his glare fixed on Hermione's angry eyes, letting his look of hatred slip only slightly to reveal the guilt he felt.

"I know Granger..." she expected him to continue, perhaps even give an excuse for his absense. Instead he kept his glare in place, all while slowly easing his tense grip that he held on Hermione's wrists.

Hermione yanked her hands back from Malfoy's grasp to rub out the pain he had caused there. Malfoy simply ignored her actions and retrieved the duffel bag from the ground.

"I expected you to get back sooner. I expected you to be here to answer my questions and provide me with something more to do than sit here and twiddle my thumbs like some useless twit. You want me to stay here hidden away, than you have to help me keep busy, keep my mind off of everything outside of this horrid house, off of the war and off of my friends! I'm not going to be able to sit still much longer unless there is something I can to help, or to keep busy! I wasn't meant to sit still and let everything keep happening around me! I've been preparing to go to war! Preparing to fight, and take HIM down!"

Hermione's rant boiled up to an ultimate explosion, where she came to a crashing halt, feeling all of her built up frustrations pouring from her. She looked up to Malfoy, but couldn't make him out through her red and tear-swollen eyes. She wiped away her tears to see Malfoy standing at the cabinets in the kitchenette pulling refills of food from the duffel he had brought with him.

"You alright there Granger?" he paused only briefly to acknowledge Hermione's pent up breakdown.

Hermione, having realized how extreme her behavior was, quickly reigned in her anger and took another swipe at the tears falling from her eyes.

"I apologize for my outburst... but being pent up like this truly is a living hell for someone like me. I didn't keep myself busy with schoolwork at Hogwarts just because I liked doing it. Keeping my mind and body busy keeps me sane."

Malfoy finished with putting away any food he had brought before turning back to Hermione.

"Yes Granger, I understand. Unfortunately I could not get here any sooner, you know with all that Death Eater business, I do still need to make appearances to my family and the Dark Lord. My absence would be easily noticed." Hermione held her tongue, not having a suitable comeback for Malfoy's obvious reasons for being unavailable.

"The positive piece of news though, is that your death seems to be a very convincing story. Not only did your friends buy it, but the Dark Lord bought it too. So much so that I have become his confidante of sorts. The Dark Lord is starting to trust me more. Whether or not that is truly a good thing I am still unsure..."

"No that's good!" Hermione cut him off. "Don't you see? If he trusts you he will tell you things that none of his other followers have the privilege to hear... you can learn things that can help defeat him.." This time Malfoy cut her off.

"Woah Granger, stop that train of thought now. Just because I refuse to kill you doesn't mean I can help you. There are certain lines too dangerous to cross, and I can already see you expecting too much from me."

Hermione was onto this thought, she couldn't back down now... especially knowing how much closer Malfoy was getting to Voldemort.

"No, believe me it wouldn't be wise to jeopardize your position or life, considering my own hangs in the balance. What I am asking is simply help in assisting me. Lord knows that Harry and Ron are useless when it comes to research, they act solely on impulse. There is... a certain task I've been researching while on the run... I would like to continue that research and somehow present Harry and Ron with any findings I come across."

"I don't know Granger... what sort of task are we talking about?"

Hermione was torn. She wanted his help, but revealing this sort of information could be even more dangerous than Malfoy helping at all.

"Look... I want to tell you if only to help you better assist me... but..." How to phrase it without completely giving it away?

"No I understand, the Dark Lord is a known legilimens. While I have been excelling in my occlumency, too much knowledge could still be dangerous."

Hermione nodded. "I'm looking to do as much research as I can on a bit of really dark magic... or more specifically reverse it in a way. There are many pieces of literature I have already scowered but have been coming up empty. I even perused through your personal library here but nothing has presented itself yet."

Malfoy furrowed his brow in thought, obviously trying to work around the kinks to figure out how best to help her. "I do believe I could provide you with some pieces from the Malfoy library. I know for a fact we have many books that are quite rare and discuss some immensely dark pieces of magic."

Hermione had a smile on her face, finally happy something was working her way for once.

"Will anyone notice if they are missing?"

"No, I frequently make my way through the Malfoy library. In fact I'm probably the only one that does anymore. Not only will nobody notice, they won't care."

Relief flowed through Hermione. Not just for the unlikeliness of getting caught, but for the feeling of being helpful again.

"Speaking of literature, I did bring some more books for you to enjoy. They aren't along the lines of what you just asked for, but they will keep you entertained for the time being. Had I thought about it more I would have stocked more books before bringing you here, but I figured what I had already sitting here could be enough... clearly I underestimated you."

Hermione let out a slight laugh while Malfoy pulled out about thirty some books from the duffel bag.

 _Seems I wasn't the only one to think of the benefits of the undetectable extension charm..._

Malfoy zipped up the duffel and made for the door.

"I must be going now, I will try to be more frequent with my visits, if only to prevent you from completely losing your head."

"Wait please. I need you to answer just one question that's been bothering me since I've been here." Truthfully many of the questions surrounding Hermione's kidnapping were bothering her, but one was eating at her so badly. She feared the truth would make her small bit of trust in Malfoy dissipate.

"Okay Granger, one question..."

"The girl that I was lured to rescue... she didn't set off any alarms, she was covered in blood but had no wounds... I know you said you're afraid to kill, but... did you hurt her?"

Malfoy met Hermione gaze with pure sincerity and a small bit of anger.

"No Granger, I did not hurt her...'

Hermione reluctantly believed him. "Than what happened with her?"

"That's more than one question Granger..."

Hermione kept her gaze intense, pleading for the knowledge.

"Fine... she was a muggle I found in a nearby village. I altered her memory to remember being tortured and then being chased... The blood on her was put there magically, it in no way came from her... once you retreated away from the perimeter of your spells I put her to sleep..."

"How did you..." Hermione's question was halted when Malfoy raised his hand to quiet her.

"I will tell you all my tricks next time, but for now only about the girl, if I don't get back soon I'll be late for a meeting with the Dark Lord himself, and..." Draco halted his speech and shuddered.

Hermione quickly nodded, understanding his limited time frame.

"After acquiring you I returned the girl all cleaned up and readjusted her memory. For that hour in time she believes she went for a walk to clear her head. Absolutely no harm came to her."

Hermione felt more relief flood through her. She couldn't stop worrying about what sort of role that girl had played in her capture. She felt the truth in Malfoy's words, someone unable to kill didn't seem to have the stomach to torture either.

"Thank you Malfoy."

The acknowledgement held in the air while Malfoy seemed to study her words. Either he didn't believe she meant it or he simply couldn't comprehend it. Shaking his head to get his thoughts back to the present, he nodded towards Hermione and made his departure.

The door clicked shut and was locked, leaving Hermione once again alone in her quaint little prison. She perused the titles of the books Malfoy left on the kitchen table. A few appeared to be wizard fiction, while others were informational help books. But the titles that intrigued Hermione the most were a set that seemed to be older than the founders themselves. They were old and natural magic references that covered every form of magic known to wizard kind, at least for that time in history.

 _Now these will keep me busy for QUITE some time..._

Hermione grabbed the first in the series provided and settled in front of the dim fire just barely keeping her from freezing. She cracked open the cover and dove in to her newest distraction.


End file.
